HIJINKS AND HUMOUR AND HAND-GRENADES, OH MY!
SAT, JUN 14, 2025 - 15:21
It was a chilly Friday night in Melbourne when, dressed in my shabbiest woollen jacket, I stepped from the biting wind into a small cinema lobby, proving that the cinema is often a good escape in more ways than one. And someone who knows all about cinematic escapism is Wes Anderson.
- SPOILERS FOLLOW -
I knew nothing about The Phoenician Scheme when I booked the tickets — and that’s how I like it. I tend to avoid trailers for most films nowadays and with Anderson’s in particular, feel relatively certain that entertainment and eye-candy are in store.
That signature style was evident from moment the film began, as a meticulously styled Benicio del Toro sits in a luxurious and retro light-aircraft cabin — before it explodes, setting the tone for a story filled with bombs, guns, poison, and grenades.
The Phoenician Scheme is categorised as an ‘espionage, dark comedy’ which neglects the family-drama part that arguably forms the core of the film. The plot centers on Zsa-Zsa Korda, a ruthless billionaire arms dealer portrayed by del Toro who, after surviving his sixth plane crash embarks on a path of redemption, though inadvertently. While attempting to create a legacy through ruthlessly executed infrastructure projects in the fictional Middle Eastern ‘Phoenicia’ (which bears no relation to the ancient Phoenicia), the brazen, heartless Korda summons his estranged daughter Liesl, a nun-in-training, to give her a ‘trial run’ as his potential heir — a wise move, seeing as he spends most of his life avoiding assassination attempts and sabotage.
The plan is for her to inherit and carry on his ambitions if he meets a sticky end, but first the pair embark on a journey, meeting with all the stakeholders and reconciling on the way. Liesl’s ideological bent slowly erodes while Korda confronts his moral blind spots, and the pair make a wonderfully coordinated value flip as Anderson guides us through delicious and bizarre locales and encounters, all inhabited by a star-studded cast including Michael Cera, Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson, and Benedict Cumberbatch.
It’s impressive how Anderson recruits familiar archetypes and then injects fresh life into them with whimsical, absurdist qualities. Tropes like the stuffy admiral, the communist freedom-fighter, the Arabian prince, and the old mother superior all make appearances. However, under Anderson’s hand these cutout tropes are all subverted. The radical politely and cheerfully acquiesces to reason, the old business magnate playfully joins an impromptu basketball game, and the mother superior displays corruption in service of piety. It’s all an exercise in creative unpredictability.
Another hallmark of Anderson's storytelling is the way characters reveal their backstories through monologues. In most films, this approach would feel forced or corny, often relegated to clichéd "hero hears a villain monologuing" scenarios. But Anderson's reality is so heightened and the characters so often devoid of normal human emotion, that these monologues serve as essential windows into their inner worlds, providing the audience with the necessary depth to understand and connect.
Anderson recruits familiar archetypes and then injects fresh life into them with whimsical, absurdist qualities.
By this point in time, Anderson’s style is fully developed and realized. He knows what he's about, and so does his audience. There's a lot to be said for a well-established, trademarked look and feel. But there's also a downside. It's very opinionated. You either get it or you don't — a point illustrated when the young couple beside me in the cinema got up and left two-thirds of the way through, or by the lady to my other side who shot me a baffled look as the final credits rolled, as if trying to divine just how bamboozled I was.
Still, few of us can hope to be as recognizable and confident in our craft as Anderson, and whether or not his movies hit home, I often leave with a glow of inspiration and a drive to make something new. This time was no exception. As I walked out of the warm cinema into that cold air again, I will admit to feeling confident. I've been closing in on a manuscript in the last few months, but sometimes it seems too big to handle. This film was a reminder that its always possible to prise oneself out of a funk, and that to navigate the difficulties of life, sometimes all we need is a little comedy and whimsy, and the confidence to see it through.
Jim :)
TIME TO RELOAD?
THURS, JUN 5, 2025 - 12:32
Ask people what they think of The Matrix Reloaded and you’ll often get a half-smile and a shrug. “Bit of a letdown,” they might say. “Got too talky,” or “Didn’t make sense.”
Fair enough — after the first Matrix movie, expectations were understandably sky-high and that’s always a recipe for disaster. But after watching this film over twenty times (yes, really), I believe that Reloaded is one of the most underrated sequels in modern cinema. In fact, I’d argue that philosophically and conceptually, it might surpass the original.
The reason is that, rather than simply offering more kung-fu and bullet-time, Reloaded deepens the world of its predecessor in a way most sequels don’t manage. It expands the metaphor, taking what began as a sleek, high-concept allegory for the digital world into ideas of purpose, causality, agency, and control.
Watching it as an early twenty-something, I thought I had a pretty good handle on it but two decades later, I still find myself discovering novel aspects to the script — though sadly, I also find that my verbatim recitations of the Architect’s speech have fallen by the wayside. Whether that’s impressive or concerning is up to you…
Ignoring the strangely bendy Agent Smith courtyard battle, there are indeed some top-tier action sequences, the freeway chase being a standout. It holds up even in today’s CG-laden cinematic landscape and is an exemplar of practical effects, coordination, and tension, probably one of the best car-chase sequences ever made (not counting The Blues Brothers, of course!) And let's not forget the amazingly well-choreographed ‘ghost’-fight, or the battle in the marble hall, which utilises some truly lip-smacking slo-mo.
But again, what brings me back time and again isn’t the action, but the ideas.
Let's be honest, the Wachowskis did not simply snatch up a bunch of computing terms and throw them into a script. From rogue programs to system anomalies, cause-and-effect subroutines to firewalls and calculated outcomes, this film is packed with layers and meaning and understanding. Concepts like recursion, determinism, and interdependence are mapped onto the characters in clever, often poetic ways. Just look at Persephone’s aching monologue about desire. Or the Oracle’s half-smile as she describes programs versus prophecy. Even casual table-talk inside the Nebuchadnezzar at breakfast feels loaded with implication.
And it’s this layering of meaning and character that gives Reloaded its pulse. Every face on screen — whether they have five lines or fifty — feels distinct, motivated, memorable. Niobe, Locke, the Keymaker, the Merovingian, Seraph, even the Trainman. It’s a characterisation clinic. Nobody feels extraneous. Every line serves a purpose. Which is the point of any good program.
That, more than anything, is what makes this film special to me. Not just that it ask hard-hitting questions — but that it does so with a full cast of unique voices, each part of a broader philosophical engine. I’d go so far as to say it isn’t just a sci-fi movie, but a speculative thought experiment — with lots of guns and leather.
If there is a complaint from me, it’s actually the third film, Revolutions, which felt more like a conclusion-by-necessity. Don’t get me wrong — I like it. It ties things off and has its moments. But it leans heavily into spectacle and loses much of the gooey, chocolatey dialogue that made Reloaded such a delicious treat. All of which is why, for me, Reloaded sits alongside the first movie in a little dual-throne of its own. Different moods. Same calibre.
If you’ve only ever watched it once—or not at all—I’d strongly recommend giving it another go. Preferably with fresh eyes and no expectations. Let the world, the dialogue, and the depth surprise you. Because buried beneath all the slow-mo and sunglasses, The Matrix Reloaded has a lot to say. And once you start decoding it, you might just find yourself reloading, too.
Jim :)
WHY 'STORY' BY ROBERT McKEE STILL MATTERS
SAT, MAY 31, 2025 - 18:44
It was back in 2007 while working on a TV series called 'Frontier' (which was politely rejected from a local network exec, but remains one of my prouder early stabs at writing), that a good friend gifted me a copy of Robert McKee’s 'Story' with the words, “You need to read this, Jimmy. This guy is a Hollywood legend.”
Being young and busy, I naturally read the first few chapters and then allowed distractions to get in the way, negating my smarter and wiser friend's efforts. Yet, when I finally read it cover-to-cover (ten years later…), ‘Story’ ended up becoming one of those writing books I’d not only come to cherish, but also one I reference constantly.
'Story' is also a title which almost every serious writer back in the day had read, and which fewer and fewer nowdays seem to know exists. And yet it still matters. It’s a classic for good reason, because it serves as both a guide, a coach, and a waypost for little lost writers (which we all are, at times).
McKee is indeed a Hollywood legend, having trained dozens of excellent writers and actors, from Peter Jackson to the Pixar team (who consider reading McKee’s material a ‘rite of passage’). He doesn’t pretend to hand over a secret formula. Rather, he’s refreshingly open about the fact that nobody can truly teach you how to write a great story. What he can do (and does well) is explain what a story is, how it works, and how you might notice when yours isn’t.
McKee’s Story earns its place because it treats the art of storytelling with respect.
The most useful parts of the book lie in its examples (which are drawn from admittedly dated, though still critically acclaimed films), and in its layout of core mechanics: conflict, structure, causality, and change — the latter enacted through a shifting of values, either positive to negative, or vice-versa. McKee walks the reader through the scaling of scenes to sequences, sequences to acts, and acts to whole arcs — showing why conflict and change aren't just necessary for good stories, but the fuel itself, and frequently making the case that every beat in a scene must turn — that is, move a character or the story from one state to another.
A personal highlight for me was his section on writing “the negation of the negation” — stories that reach all the way to the far edge of a value spectrum (for example, not just hate, but beyond that to the rejection of love itself). This kind of escalation helps make sense of why certain moments in film or fiction hit so hard — and why others don’t. It helped me identify problems in my own early work, whose failures were previously hard to pinpoint.
McKee’s tone throughout is equal parts teacher and entertainer. You get the sense that he’s used to standing in front of packed seminars, commanding a room — which he frequently does — and providing lamplight-clarity in the sometimes misty mire that is writing. His energy and love of the art is palpable — especially if you listen to the audiobook, which I really recommend.
I should also mention that while Story was useful, I found McKee’s follow-up book 'Dialogue' to be a fantastic supplement, and yet another book I find crucial at times when I sense myself drifting. While Story offers structural foundations and remains a skeleton key, Dialogue has helped me build characters which are more agile, more authentic, and more interesting in general.
Like most writers trying to sharpen their craft, I’ve read a lot of books and researched everything from other writers’ story-grids, to Shaun Coyne’s ‘The Story Grid’, to the endless rabbit-holes of plot theory and beat discussions online. McKee’s 'Story' earns its place because it treats the art of storytelling with respect. It doesn’t promise stardom. It doesn’t dumb things down. It just gives you the tools, and trusts you to learn how to use them.
Recommended for any writer of screen, stage, or prose looking to dig a little deeper, rather than “just winging it.” You might not need all of it, but I’d be surprised if you didn’t find something in there that made each scene in a manuscript better. In a time where tv shows and movies are pumped out to make money and the art of a good story, well told, is being sidelined, 'Story' is a jewel of a book that's more relevant today than ever.
Jim :)
ENTER THE CRUCIBLE
Fri, MAY 23, 2025 - 12:50
In anticipation of my upcoming fantasy adventure novel, ‘This Emerald Crucible’ (set for release this year in 2025!), I am excited to announce that we have an official website, and it’s live!
If you’ve been following the journey so far and are hankering for a little more to chew on, or if you’re curious about the world of Aliru, or if you just want to know where this new chapter is going to take us (and happily, I can reveal it’s to adventure, mystery, and magick!), then go check out:
This Emerald Crucible - Official Website
Note that the novel is still in the final feedback-collection phase, but as soon as that’s done the page will be updated to reflect the release-date (and hopefully some positive reviews!). Not only that, but there will be a launch party later on this year to correspond with the release, so stay tuned for details!
A big fat warm thanks to everyone that’s supported this project thus far — you know who you are!
With This Emerald Crucible, the world of Aliru is set to gain two new heroes, deeper lore, and some of the threads being woven behind the scenes may poke out just enough to be seen…
I can’t wait to share it with you.
Jim :)
A.I. M.E.?
Thurs, MAY 15, 2025 - 9:57
On the 1st of October 1950, Alan Turing published an article in the philosophical journal Mind, in which he proposed a test designed to answer the question, ‘Can Machines Think’.
The question was clearly a response to the rapid development of computing and Turing’s involvement in the British code-cracking efforts of World War II. Yet, the ‘Turing Test’ or ‘Imitation Game’ as it came to be known, would become one of the most pertinent questions of computing for the next 70 years. Could a machine actually pass itself off as a human when interacting with an actual human?
Many efforts to create a machine that could do just that were attempted over the next half-century, and some even claimed success, though these programs were often heavily flawed and required excuses to be made for them, for example that they were a human ESL speaker, or a human with psychological issues.
It wasn’t until March of this year however, that a study evaluating the newest kid on the block, LLMs (or Large Language Models) provided ‘the first empirical evidence that any artificial system [had passed] a standard three-party Turing Test.’
Big news to some, perhaps. But to anyone who has been paying attention, no surprise, really. As with most of the tech-generation, I’ve been using ChatGPT for over two years now and long ago recognised its potential for human-like discourse.
The problem, of course, is that once something becomes human-like, it can be abused, and ChatGPT has turned into the perfect cheating device.
I’m an avid reader and in the last year alone, I’ve encountered almost a dozen books written (I’m relatively sure) entirely by ChatGPT or a similar technology. How do I know? There are a number of signs, from incoherence and contradiction, to that ‘GPT’-like lack of personality and formulaic structure. In short, I’ve had that many conversations with the machine that, ironically, I’ve become rather good at picking it out.
The situation isn’t good. Navigating online bookstores has become a minefield, with material devoid of intent, passion, or responsibility deluging the literary world. It’s become the latest trend to become an ‘author’ by using these technologies. In fact, some services even encourage it.
Sudowrite, a platform which touts itself as ’The AI tool with unparallelled story smarts’ will generate a full, multi-chapter book for you with just a few prompts. In their words, you can ’Write a novel from start to finish. In a week.’
When confronted with all this, I sometimes feel dejected. After all, it’s taken a lifetime to learn and hone my skills as an author. My latest book alone has taken 4 years to write, and this industry, which was already difficult to crack into and survive in, is now steadily filling up with noise and trash.
A faint hope remains that this is just a trend and that, like image generation, people will soon see that all these creations, while superficially flashy, lack soul and provide no basis for contemplation. Services may lure many in with promises of becoming ‘an artist’ or ‘an author’ or ‘a songwriter’, but their creations will impart no learnings, nor skills, nor true agency, nor real reward. The reader gains no true insight nor inspiration, while the user remains just that, wholly relient on another to produce anything. The hard truth is that to call yourself an author or songwriter or artist, you have to learn. To develop a craft using the blob in your own noggin and the limbs you posess.
Some years ago when this new technology was emerging, I stated that I would never use it to generate ideas nor content for any of my stories. And I stick to that. So if you read my books, rest assured you will get a 100% human-brain generated story, written by me.
Perhaps they’ll be imperfect, but I believe that’s part of the value of human-made works, whether art or music or prose. Humanness is inherently imperfect. And though we may eventually read books written by AI authors and watch AI standup-comics on stage, true stories come from human experiences, from flaws and failures and learnings, rather than perfection and dazzle. In short, real story is the product of a particular author, uniquely told.
- Jim